New to site and mes

[adam9961]

I have messed with a few basic charcoal smokers in the past and I have been looking at big green eggs, however due to a busy lifestyle and lack of funds I went with a 40 mes from SAMs.

I bought a brisket and a chicken. (My wife hates any meat except poultry) I tried to do some research. I had a 4 lb brisket that was somewhat thin. I also had a 5lb chicken. I put the chicken and brisket on expecting at least 4 hrs for both. I checked them at 3pm and the brisket was at 190 and the chicken was cooked way too long.
It's about 30 degrees outside, and I set my mes at 225. It took an hr to get to 225 and it stayed there. However I can't figure out how these cuts of meat are already done. Any ideas?
Only thing I can think is temp was off in mes or the cold outside caused the heat element to stay on and for some reason parts of the device were way to hot.

 

[daveomak]

Adam, evening and welcome to the forum.....  Glad you stopped in...   There is a problem with most smoker thermostats...  they are not accurate.... yours may be reading very low....  when you think you are at 225, you could be at 275...    some of the new MES 40's have been recorded at 325 +.....   they aren't supposed to go above 275.....  Check it with a calibrated therm and find out what is going on....   Hope it didn't ruin any of the meat... that would suck....   also, a remote therm stuck in the food will help you track how it is cooking...   some have a double probe, 1 for meat, the other to monitor the temp in the smoker....  There are a few threads describing the heat problems in the new MES 40...  When you find out what is going on, start a new thread describing that problem and or valued, smart membership will help you out... Dave